Pictures of your recumbent

DIscuss anything relating to non-standard cycles and their equipment.
UpWrong
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Joined: 31 May 2009, 12:16pm
Location: Portsmouth, Hampshire

Re: Pictures of your recumbent

Post by UpWrong »

nigelnightmare wrote:If you reverse the brake levers you WILL have to get a new left hand one and a Front derailleur lever because you wont be able to operate the current one as it will be on the outside!
Also the twist grip gears are more difficult to operate when gripped with your pinky & ring fingers instead of thumb, index & forefinger, especially when wet/cold.
HTH


I have a bar end shifter I can use from the front derailleur. I agree that reversing the twist grip for the rear will make it more difficult to use. The mirror mount around the handlebar is working satisfactorily where it is at the moment, so not much incentive to change it.
Marc
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Joined: 18 Aug 2016, 6:03pm
Location: Hamburg, Germany
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Re: Pictures of your recumbent

Post by Marc »

My Vortex mongrel got a shiny new ICE VTX cruciform (thanks Patrick!).

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It got 24" front wheels with 90mm Sturmey Archer drum brakes and a TPR Spire with 160mm disk at the rear.

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Apart from mating a 2019 VTX front frame to a 2010 Vortex 2 rear frame, combined with a 2013 Vortex hard shell seat (I love this old seat!), hardly anything is stock on this trike.

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Wrote something about it in my blog post: https://etrike.wordpress.com/2020/04/25/nasty-got-a-new-frame
yostumpy
Posts: 994
Joined: 29 Oct 2010, 6:56pm

Re: Pictures of your recumbent

Post by yostumpy »

ImageIMG_1243 by mark tilley, on Flickr


Arrived yesterday, courtesy of a motorcycle transport chap, all strapped in the back of the van, complete, no boxing up. Anyway gave it a very good clean, and fettle

ImageIMG_1244 by mark tilley, on Flickr.

Since this, I've got the front light working, re adjusted the front mudguard, sorted the bar tape, fitted my carradice rack top bag (with orange stripe), and an old Halfords 8 function computer, re calibrated to suit.

Had a go in the garden riding round in a small ovel, and kept falling off on the wet grass, as my feet kept slipping on the grass, when I stalled on a bend. Oh what fun. :D
hercule
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Joined: 5 Feb 2011, 5:18pm

Re: Pictures of your recumbent

Post by hercule »

Nice machine. You might need a smidgen more chain... it’s easier than you think to end up in a big-big combination, and it’s almost inevitable that you will need to fiddle with the boom length until it’s just right.
yostumpy
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Joined: 29 Oct 2010, 6:56pm

Re: Pictures of your recumbent

Post by yostumpy »

hercule wrote:Nice machine. You might need a smidgen more chain... it’s easier than you think to end up in a big-big combination, and it’s almost inevitable that you will need to fiddle with the boom length until it’s just right.


Yes I'll need more than a smidgen. I went for a first ride of 11 km, and realised the boom needs to be 25-40mm more. The chain in the pic was only on middle ring at front, just to try, but I'll have to add some now.
yostumpy
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Joined: 29 Oct 2010, 6:56pm

Re: Pictures of your recumbent

Post by yostumpy »

ImageIMG_1250 by mark tilley, on Flickr

second ride on Grunhilda , 30km today, bike now fitted with rack pack, boom adjusted, and lower rack removed.
Tangled Metal
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Joined: 13 Feb 2015, 8:32pm

Re: Pictures of your recumbent

Post by Tangled Metal »

It's a GTe version right? I've got the older GT. Lovely tourer although I've never owned a proper upright tourer to know whether it really is or not. Got some 70 litre rear panniers and standard 40 litres mid rack panniers when touring. Could easily add stuff on top or in the v large panniers side pocket. Actually, could have been the big panniers on the mid rack. Might seem bulky but I think it worked better that way.

My one issue is when fully loaded it's a pita to have to turn it tightly if you've gone the wrong way. My partner and kid would turn on their rear wheel on their uprights and I'd have to go forward until more open space then walk it round while sat up on the seat. Not a very good Turning circle.

Have you tried it fully loaded yet? Or is that too early?
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pjclinch
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Re: Pictures of your recumbent

Post by pjclinch »

Tangled Metal wrote:It's a GTe version right? I've got the older GT. Lovely tourer although I've never owned a proper upright tourer to know whether it really is or not.


I can ride all day with no weight on my arms. I was limited to about 60 miles of enjoyable cycling on my "proper upright tourer" and that was when I was younger and fitter. The SMGT is a lovely tourer as far as my wants go.

Tangled Metal wrote:My one issue is when fully loaded it's a pita to have to turn it tightly if you've gone the wrong way. My partner and kid would turn on their rear wheel on their uprights and I'd have to go forward until more open space then walk it round while sat up on the seat. Not a very good Turning circle.


IME the loading doesn't make much difference: there is limited steering lock and while a low centre of mass is great at speed it's not at all helpful for low speed U-ies. I usually stop, stand up and physically shift it around if it's a tight spot. But then again I also ride an 8-Freight and used to pilot a Thorn kiddyback triplet so I'm used to working with relatively unwieldy-at-low-speed mounts. I can forgive it that when I get all-day comfort and a default heads-up view of where I'm going.

Tangled Metal wrote:Have you tried it fully loaded yet? Or is that too early?


It's obviously harder work up hills with a big load, but another place where the SMGT easily betters a conventional tourer is the handling with a full touring load. Because it's pretty much the same as handling with no load at all. Get the heavy stuff in the lowriders so it's between the wheels and under the rider and the only effect on the handling is it gluing to the road better. It can cruise at speed through stuff that would horrify me on an unsuspended 700c upwrong tourer.

Pete.
Often seen riding a bike around Dundee...
yostumpy
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Re: Pictures of your recumbent

Post by yostumpy »

Yes its a GTE, no load yet, only just got it!! 42km today. out of interest , unloaded, on a GT/GTE, what is a good avg speed in kmh, in varied terrain, so I know what to aspire to. First ride was pants, second ride, 17.7 kmh, 3rd ride 18.3 kmh, I'm thinking around 22 kmh? faster ? slower?
Tangled Metal
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Re: Pictures of your recumbent

Post by Tangled Metal »

yostumpy wrote:Yes its a GTE, no load yet, only just got it!! 42km today. out of interest , unloaded, on a GT/GTE, what is a good avg speed in kmh, in varied terrain, so I know what to aspire to. First ride was pants, second ride, 17.7 kmh, 3rd ride 18.3 kmh, I'm thinking around 22 kmh? faster ? slower?

I was slow in mine. I never got very fast. Mind you I had slowed down in my upright too. IME I could keep up with myself on an upright but i in reality my SMGT is a slower bike than my upright. Both are not fast bikes at least in part because of the motor!!

I agree the huge advantage of the SMGT is it's loaded characteristics. I had 110 litres of capacity when I toured in mine. That load was probably what I toured with when I towed a trailer on my upright with two panniers and top of rack fully loaded too. The big difference is I set off on my upright and trailer thinking it was unmanageable because of a major wobble. I got the hang of it and our holiday wasn't ruined. The SMGT however didn't feel any different from unloaded when moving at a stable speed. By stable speed I mean I felt the setting off and slow speeds uphill was wobbly until a certain speed was reached. Not always reached uphill and I did have to push quite a few times. Possibly I could have continued but I had to push because of my partner and son were already pushing their bikes.

It's amazing what a touring recumbent can manage. If I ever went on a truly long tour (we only did two week tours) I would not want to use an upright. For me a touring recumbent is the best option for heavy loads. I'd like to try towing a trailer with mine too.
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pjclinch
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Re: Pictures of your recumbent

Post by pjclinch »

yostumpy wrote:Yes its a GTE, no load yet, only just got it!! 42km today. out of interest , unloaded, on a GT/GTE, what is a good avg speed in kmh, in varied terrain, so I know what to aspire to. First ride was pants, second ride, 17.7 kmh, 3rd ride 18.3 kmh, I'm thinking around 22 kmh? faster ? slower?


I don't have a speedo but am generally not in a hurry on mine. Not so much it won't go fast as it's relaxed and doesn't really encourage me to. If you aspire to high speed you bought the wrong bike, I'd say, but if you want to get to places in comfort and enjoy the scenery it's hard to beat on those terms. Probably less than 20 km/h rolling average.

(Having said that, the sure-footed handling and excellent braking characteristics make it a real screamer downhills, and though I'm one of the less sporty members of the local CTC chapter none of them can keep up with me on the downhills if there's much in the way of twists and turns)

Pete.
Often seen riding a bike around Dundee...
yostumpy
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Re: Pictures of your recumbent

Post by yostumpy »

No I don't aspire to go fast, i just wanted to know when I got average. 4th ride,, today of 36km with 19.6 kmh avg, so improving quickly. Extended the boom another 10mm as well today.
Tangled Metal
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Re: Pictures of your recumbent

Post by Tangled Metal »

Personally I think that's a good average for the SMGT/SMGTe.

I've not done so many hills and what I've done I go slower than my upright. I do not trust the recumbent bike or rather trust my handling of it as much as my handling of upright bikes. I've done high 50moh on uprights but got scared riding at 32mph on the recumbent. Generally 28mph is my comfort limit on straight downhills, I'll back off about that speed usually.

I don't know if that's lack of familiarity, lack of handing skills with recumbent or some setup issue with my recumbent but it didn't feel stable or planted to me.
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n0ct0
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Re: Pictures of your recumbent

Post by n0ct0 »

Tiller conversion part 2! So much faster, especially when it’s windy. :D
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belgiangoth
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Joined: 29 Mar 2007, 4:10pm

Re: Pictures of your recumbent

Post by belgiangoth »

Like the speedmachine! Loots cleaner than mine.
What's the frame bag at the front?
If I had a baby elephant, I would put it on a recumbent trike so that it would become invisible.
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